31 August 2013

Bewdley Regatta by Stewartt Plant.


The senior Northwich crews attended Bewdley Regatta on 27th July.

Stewart Plant wrote the following report:

Over recent weeks Northwich Rowing Clubs Senior Squad have gone from strength to strength notching up wins across the North West and Midlands at Burton, Bewdley and Warrington Regatta. Saturday 3rd August saw the most recent win with the Men’s IM2 Coxed four taking the gold in the Invitational Open Coxed Fours after beating Warrington RC in the final by over 4 lengths. The crew consisting of Sam Coverley at Stroke, Stewart Plant, Phil Hewitt and John Johnson at Bow was coxed by Ellie Briegal received their pots from the Mayor of Warrington Peter Carey. Earlier in the day Northwich had been narrowly defeated in the Mixed IM2 Eights by a strong Runcorn RC crew who went on to take the gold in the final.

July 27th saw two wins for the Squad at Bewdley Regatta from a field of over 250 crews, along with a fantastic performance of the Ladies IM3 Coxed Four made up of Emma Winsor at Stroke, Dee Ashmore, Caroline Paterson and Jenny Jones at bow who lead their event for two rounds before being beaten in the Semi Final by Agecroft RC. Sam Coverley and Adam Webster took the gold in the IM3 Coxless Pair event with a win by 2 lengths over Birmingham RC in the final. However the greatest success was held for the last race of the day when the flagship race of the regatta saw Northwich beat Warrick RC by 3 lengths in the final of the IM3 Coxed Eights after beating  the University of Manchester BC and Royal Chester in previous rounds. The crew was made up of Aaron Hiscox at stroke, Sam Coverley, Phil Hewitt, Stewart Plant, Andy Kelsell, John Johnson, Nick Parkes and Adam Webster at box was coxed by Jonty Moores and received their winning pots from the Mayor of Bewdley, Linda Candlin.

The streak started at Burton Regatta on the 13th and 14th July with two wins again for the squad. Liam Bromiley and David Zimmer sculled their way to victory in the Novice Double Scull event, having led the race to the half way point over the 1,100m course, their opposition capsized resulting in a clear win for the double. Victory also came for the crew of Alex Murphy at stroke, Stewart Plant, Sam Coverley and Adam Webster, coxed by Sammy Overs when they won the IM3 Coxed Four event by 5 lengths in the Final against Leicester RC.

What has made the victories even better for the club is that some of the members of the squad are graduates from the Learn To Row courses held by Northwich RC, with John Johnson only graduating in March this year. Club Captain Phil Hewitt said, "It's fantastic to see our senior squads performing so well at a top regional regatta like Bewdley. The fact that most of the squad have come from our successful Learn 2 Row programme is a great testament to the ongoing development at Northwich Rowing Club."
For more details about Rowing at Northwich please visit - http://www.northwichrowing.co.uk/